Neill is not diplobamatic

Last week I hung out with my brother. As we drove around, he called out, "Bono!" to every song that came on the radio whether or not it was U2.

I corrected him while also thinking that considering I taught him to recognize Bono's voice 20 years ago, I should just go with it and let him show off. Also, how cool would it be to teach him to recognize our president's voice so when I have on NPR he can yell out "Barack!" or, more likely, "Bama!"

I'll let you know how that progresses.

One thing I know. There is no way that he'll be able to pronounce a silly word invented by cable news that I saw on the television screen the other day: DIPLOBAMACY. I'm sorry, what? Some little behind the scenes fact-checker must have been in a precious mood that day.

Neill and I drove to get gas which he thought was fun, bought 7-UPs (fun), went to watch planes at Lunken Airport (kinda boring), and then drove to mom and dad's. When I pulled in the driveway, I realized I forgot my keys to their house and would have to break in through the garage. Neill and I were headed through the garage and almost inside when he saw it: The Rake.

"Rake," He said.

"Yep," I agreed.

"Rake," Neill repeated.

"Neill," I said, "There aren't any leaves," knowing full well that this was a futile argument on my part.

I pointed out on this blog not too long ago that when Neill walks around the yard with a hose he's just as happy watering inanimate objects as he is watering actual grass or flowers. The act of watering anything or, in this case, raking nothing is enough for him.

I think it's safe to say that Neill is not goal-oriented. He is all process.

I watched him rake for a bit and then I took some video because there are a few things I appreciate about his style:

1. Neill carefully dragged the garbage can out of the garage and then periodically moved it around the yard though he did not put anything inside it.

2. He gets distracted and rakes in a totally half-assed fashion but doesn't fully stop because he came there to rake and that is what he's gonna do.

3. He always remembers to call me bad names. I didn't catch the actual insult on camera though I have included my subsequent line of questioning: